The Dogs On Mainstreet Howl

BecauseTheyUnderstand
PromisedLandVille

I just got back from bloody Ottawa where it was actually warmer than it is in Vancouver.

But screw the warming.

Because this freakish weather business looks like a global warning to me, in more ways than one.

Or even a thousand.

Anyway, the cigar tube-assisted trip to the Nation's Capital (of hubris) was a science-geek thing where I was forced to sit with a bunch of fellow obsessive/compulsives for three days straight so that we could bash each other's grants, and each other, up the side of the head for 16 hours at a stretch.

Kind of like waterboarding with sharp sticks, no water, and very bad coffee.

Usually we are stuck in hotel basement bunker rooms. This time, for some strange, unfathomable reason, we were deposited in a 27th floor room right under the revolving rooftop restaurant on Kent St. As a result, every 30 minutes or so we spun around and came face-to-face with the clock tower (the rest of the time we could see the billowing of the pulpmill smokestacks across the river in Hull that obscured the Museum of Civilization.....).

At about 7pm Monday night the few amongst us who are even aware that there actually is an outside world (not a normal characterstic amongst sci-geeks) noticed the small white puffs rising from one of Parliament's many chimneys just as the caterwauling began.....

And a scant five minutes later, if you looked very carefully, you could see the beasts begin their sprint for the river looking for fresh blood and raw bones to gnaw on....and those were just the advance men....somewhere off in the distance I was sure I could hear the joyful hooting of Warren Kinsella...but I could have been mistaken.

By the way, Ottawa cab drivers routinely kill people....they are insane.

And five and a half hours with Robert Milton's minions constantly trying to sell you 5 dollar cup-a-soups on the cigar tube ride home is enough to drive just about anyone crazy.

But who cares. After all, January 23rd is far off in the distance beyond the Holiday (take that Bill O'Lielly) Horizon.

And Paulie is doomed anyway....Even Bono has grown tired of him now.

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Extreme Pruning Of The Shrubbery.....

TheAnvilFalls
PollVille


At this rate there may be no foilage to hang the Christmas* ornaments on.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest Harris Poll finds that
President Bush's positive job rating has continued to fall, touching another
new low for his presidency at 34 percent. This compares with his positive
ratings of fully 88 percent after 9/11, 65 percent in November 2002, 50
percent at the end of 2003, 50 percent in November 2004, 45 percent in June of
this year, and 40 percent in August.

President Bush's positive ratings, now, compare unfavorably with those of
three of the last four two-term presidents at a comparable time in their fifth
year in office. In November (or the nearest month to it when the Harris Poll
measured it) of their fifth year, their positive ratings, Presidents Johnson
(67%), Reagan (66%) and Clinton (58%) all enjoyed the support of substantial
majorities. President Nixon however (29%) was significantly less popular than
President Bush is now.

Our first question is: How significant is the difference between 34% and 29% anyway?

Our second question is: Will we have 'the Shrubbery to kick around anymore' when he's gone?

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*In deference to Green Day, we would have said 'Holiday', but we didn't want to get black-jacked by Canada's good friend Mr. O'Reilly.
Of course, there are certain things that have given Mr. Bush short term bumps, and they are all scary.

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Why Does Maximus Suck?

KissThoseJobsGoodbye
LayOffVille


Why can't the American giant Maximus Corp, which we are paying $240 million dollars to answer our phones for our medical system, do its job properly?

In fact, it is so bad that it has been fined every single month for seven months since the contract signed commander Gordon Campbell and the BC Privatization Buccaneers began because Maximus apparently can't come even close to meeting performance quotas.

Well, according to Maximus CEO Lynn Davenport it's because we are so darned foreign and because (at least in the past) we have paid our people a living wage to answer our phones for our medical system.

Asked why things have not gone smoothly in B.C., Davenport replied: "We're doing this project in another country and we're doing it in a union environment."


So, how are they going to fix the problem? Why, by firing people of course.

Here's Davenport again:

"Beginning in January, we're going to be reducing our staffing," Davenport told analysts, adding later that the company plans to provide "better service with less people."

You got that? They are saying they are going to reduce service when they can't meet service commitments now.

Of course Maximus is saying they have to do this because they are losing so much money because of the fines which they have hinted are 'politically motivated'. Our question is this - given how much money Maximus/Minimus is raking in (as we detailed here), and given how lousy they are at providing their so-called 'core' services, why should we believe their accounting is any better?

That Privatization Pirateship - sure doesn't look so good when you're being forced to walk the plank, tattered health care plan paperwork in hand.


______
Nice work by Russ Francis of Monday Magazine on this one.

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Parsing The Dead

TheTruthOfALie
ObfuscationVille

The above is a harsh headline. But when your premier is a man who blithely spouts tiny truths to obscure big lies, it's difficult not to be harsh.

Specifically, during what was meant to be a fluff piece before the opening of the First Nations Summit, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell was asked about child poverty and the incomplete files of (at least) 713 dead children on CBC Radio One's 'Early Edition' this morning*

Campbell, clearly annoyed, responded by saying that every single one of the deaths had been 'investigated' they just hadn't been 'reviewed' - yet.

Maybe he should tell that to the grieving families that are waiting for closure.

Or, better yet, perhaps Mr. Campbell should tell that to the former Ombudsman and Children's Commissioner that his government has been ignoring for the last year and a half on this issue.

A former B.C. ombudsman says she tried to warn Premier Gordon Campbell as recently as May of this year that child deaths were not being properly reviewed.....

(snip)

But Dulcie McCallum says the government shouldn't be surprised that hundreds of child deaths were not reviewed. She says that message was being conveyed to senior government officials over a period of 18 months.

McCallum says both she and former Children's Commissioner Cynthia Morton told government officials they were getting calls from people whose complaints about child deaths were not being responded to.

But McCallum says all her attempts to warn the government in writing were ignored, and that Campbell didn't even respond to her letters.


Obfuscation is obfuscation no matter how you twist the words.

Thus, the headline.

Again:

"How do these people sleep at night?"

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Clearly Mr. Campbell was bamboozled into believing he was going to interviewed by the Puffmaster Rick Cluff. Too bad for him Kathryn Gretsinger and Duncan McCue were in the chair this morning. Audio can be found here.

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Have You Had Enough Yet?

RakingUpTheMuck
LieberalVille

Is Back.

Go!

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A Treatment House? In Dunbar?

WhenPigsFly
NPAVille

Why did folks like Sam Sullivan and the (still unannounced) financial backers of the anti-progressive 'KnoWards' campaign need to win so much?

Could it have been a pressing need to stop crazy stuff like people insisting that all parts of the City of Vancouver need to do their share in helping those that need help so much.

Clear thinking Vancouver resident Tim Everett says it so well in a letter to the Vancouver Courier published last Sunday, the day after the election:

To the editor:

Re: "And then there were three," Nov. 13.

When the discussion arose last winter regarding the proposed Triage dual-diagnosis residence on Fraser Street (for recovering drug addicts with mental illness) I looked into the placement of special needs residence facilities across Vancouver. A city council member and city staffer had informed me that, "It is fair to say that generally these uses are scattered across the city, with exception of the southwest." I referred to the map provided and my counting contradicted such a claim.

Supported housing east of Main Street is almost double of that west of Main (100 out of a total 155 facilities). This includes all types of residences, whether it's for seniors, low-income, mental health or drug and alcohol rehabilitation. According to my count, Fraser Street accommodates a whopping 12 per cent of all the city's mental health residences.

That's why I was so intrigued when I saw the news story about the proposed supported housing in Dunbar. When plans for Triage on Fraser were unleashed there was massive local opposition. Residents were treated to a few huge and colourful public meetings and one public hearing. After this process council unanimously ignored the residents and adopted the plan designed and recommended by city staff (albeit with a tiny tweak or two).

The residents were called NIMBYs by the mayor and scolded for not doing their part for the poor folks who need help and for the Four Pillars plan in general. Obviously it was a done deal after all, in spite of what Coun. Anne Roberts said at the public meeting.

Let's just hope that the fine folks in Dunbar are ready to do their part for the team. It must be difficult for them to discover that their community might have to help shoulder a small portion of the social burden that's been foisted upon the East Side for decades. (We were, after all, "educated" that the folks for the dual-diagnosis place on Fraser would come from both the poor and wealthy areas of town.) It must be excruciating to face the notion that Vancouver's Special Zone for all things yucky (a.k.a. the East Side), might not always be forced to do the heavy lifting and that the load must be shared.

We need drug and alcohol treatment and supported housing desperately in this city. All progress in dealing with lost lives and street crime relies upon it. Even after the fiasco of the way the Triage centre at Fraser was pushed through, I am in favour of it. The East Side has traditionally been forced to accommodate any and all manner of unattractive projects for Vancouver while the more well-heeled areas west of Main are exempt. That the city has bought the property on Dunbar may address this, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll be interested to see how much resolve a new city council will have to put anything on Dunbar other than what the privileged and insulated residents there decide on. Dual-diagnosis residence? Snowballs in hell would fare better. Drug and alcohol rehab centre? Pigs will fly first. A nice, quiet subsidized housing project for local seniors who'd rather not move out to the suburbs? Aaaah. That sounds nice.

Tim Everett, Vancouver

Enough said.

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Maximus This!

TheRichGetRicher
PrivatizationVille

Just in case you've had any problems processing your MSP forms or getting Maximus on the phone to help you out, thought you might like to know this about one of GordCo Inc's favorite Privatization partners:

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2005--MAXIMUS (NYSE:MMS), a leading provider of government services, today reported results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2005.

Highlights include:

-- Fourth quarter revenue increased 8.6% over last year to $167.3 million, and net income was $7.4 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, including the previously disclosed legal settlement expense of $5.5 million or $0.15 per diluted share. Excluding the fourth quarter legal expense, diluted earnings per share would have been $0.49,

-- Full-year revenue increased 7.2% over last year to $647.5 million, and net income was $36.1 million, or $1.67 per diluted share, including full year legal settlement expense of $7.0 million. Excluding the full year legal settlement expense, net income and diluted earnings per share would have been $40.3 million and $1.86, respectively,

-- Days sales outstanding remained consistent at 94 days,

-- Fiscal 2005 record signed contracts and ending backlog of $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion, at September 30, 2005, respectively.

You got that?

Spin emanating from their stove piped flack-hacks to the contrary, Maximus is doing just fine.

What's more, they are actually very happy to be taking our money because, despite being fined seven straight months for not meeting expectations, they are actually making out like bandits on their 'Health Services' revenue.

For the full year, Health Services revenue increased 21.2% to $251.6 million versus $207.5 million reported in fiscal 2004. Revenue growth was driven by several factors including the start of the British Columbia contract, a full-year's contribution from the California Healthy Families project, and new federal work which resulted from the Company's increased emphasis on this market segment. Health Services revenue in the fourth quarter was $65.3 million compared to $58.0 million in the same period last year. Health Services operating margin, which absorbed a $3.8 million loss on the British Columbia contract, was 11.6% and 11.4% for the full year and fourth quarter, respectively.

So, given that, can anyone explain what possible impetus Maximus has to improve services and meet expectations?

Looks like fines are nothing but a cost of doing business.

_______
This just in: Of course Maximus is focussed on that $3.8million not the $251.6 million and are thus announcing, according to CKNW (8:00pm Nov 23rd Newscast), that they are going to make service cuts (ie. start laying people off). So, not only did the people actually doing the work lose good paying jobs to line a multinational's pockets, they are now about to start losing those jobs entirely because the same multinational can't do it's job properly. See. Privatization works!

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Cutting The Coroner

IdeologicallyHamstrung
byGordCo Inc.


A while back we relied on Vancouver Sun supplied numbers to come up with the formula of $4 million cut by axing the Children's Commissioner plus $0.2 million given to the Coroner to pick up the slack to come up with the number of $3.8 million available for tax cuts to Gordon Campbell's wealthy contributors/constituency in return for no follow-up for 713 dead children.

Well, David Schreck now has harder year-by-year numbers for the Coroner's budget for the period in question:

According to Public Accounts, the Coroners Service budget was $8.582 million in 2001-02, $8.009 million in 2002-03, $8.247 million in 2003-04 and $8.315 million in 2004-05. The cut of $573,000 in 2002-03 was not yet fully restored by the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005. Actual spending was $8.137 million in 2000-01, $8.147 million in 2001-02, $7.516 million in 2002-03 and $7.869 million in 2003-04. The drop in actual spending between 2001-02 and 2002-03 of $631,000 exceeded the budgeted cut.


So, it looks like the unafflicted who are most comfortable in the province of British Columbia actually got more money per uninvestigated dead child file than we originally gave them credit for.

We apologize to the rich.

_____
Schreck (not Shrek - he's no ogre), has some other hard earned disturbing numbers in the same piece.

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Fascinating.

StillCarryingWater
ModerationVille

That's how GordCo Inc. AG Wally Oppal describes the James Green/Sam Sullivan tete a tete.

But he is not going to get involved.


Oppal rejects Greens inquiry
Nov, 23 2005 - 9:30 AM
VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - A call for an independent inquiry of bizarre events leading up to Jim Green's failed bid to become Vancouver's next mayor has been rejected by Attorney General Wally Oppal. “It's a fascinating debate that's been going on, but I don't want to get involved in the debate,” said Oppal. “The obvious solution, if there is some impropriety, is for an applicant to go before the Supreme Court under the Vancouver charter and make an application.

In other words, don't mess with the Moderate Man.

And as for the supposedly Moderate Woman, heard anything from Carol Taylor on the 713d dead children tragedy yet?

Perhaps she's too busy not cutting the regressive PST.

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One Not Down.....

StillDefendingTheIndefensible
GordCo Inc.

.......Still 713 to Go

Paul Willcocks has a small part of the story on one of the 713 dead children whose memories were shunted to a warehouse by Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal's ideologically-driven service cutbacks to the Children and Families ministry.

VICTORIA - Dayna Humphrey wants to know why her little boy died in foster care more than two years ago.

Not just so his voice will be heard, Humphrey said Tuesday, but so other children's lives might be saved.

But so far she's run into a brick wall in her efforts to get any answers about what happened in the hours and days before her son, Brandon Seymour, was found slumped in a wheelchair, his restraints around his neck.

"I've been slapped down at every step," said Humphrey from her North Vancouver home. "I want to know that somebody out there is looking out for my son's voice.


Here are the responses from the Campbell government Ministers 'currently' responsible, also from Mr. Willcocks' story:

Solicitor General John Les said the coroner couldn't make any recommendations because the cause of death was undetermined......

(snip)

Children and Families Minister Stan Hagen said an internal review into Brandon's was still being done. He couldn't say when it would be completed, or why it has taken so long.


Again, I come back to an out of town visitor's comment who was here last week and saw the headlines before Mike de Jong's Bill 17 Deflector Spin Machine figuratively, if not literally, sent the files straight back to the Warehouse.

"How do these people sleep at night?"

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When Is A Lie Not A Lie?

MispokeMyself
VictimVille

Apparently, when newly 'elected' Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan speaks it.

Here is the latest on the 'I never met/I did meet' James Green saga from from the CBC:

On Monday night, Sullivan was asked about the controversy by CBC TV's Ian Hanomansing.

"Some of our viewers wanted you to set the record straight. They'd like to know if you or your party had any connection with James Green or any connnection with his entrance in the mayoral race,"

"No, absolutely not," said Sullivan.

You got that. That was Monday.

And this was Tuesday:

"But now, the mayor-elect says he did talk to James Green after someone told him the independent was being bullied out of his campaign office by election rival Jim Green.

"I did what I thought I needed to do, to determine if Jim Green was bullying another candidate, as he had been bullying me." Sullivan says he discovered the story had no merit and he dropped it.

James Green happened to office space in the same building as Sullivan.

And Sullivan now admits he called the landlord to say that situation made him uncomfortable – but says he made that call after Green had been evicted.

At a news conference on Tuesday Sullivan was at a loss to explain why he was still interested in someone who was no longer there.

"Why would I ask about being uncomfortable, and at the same time ask why he had being evicted?"

"I don't know. You tell us," replied a reporter.


No, Mr. Sullivan. You tell the people of Vancouver.

Especially those who voted for you because you portrayed yourself as the honest one and smeared your opponent as having exactly the opposite characteristics.

And remember......It was that great truth teller, Christy Clark, who unintentionally (and without irony) demonstrated how low some pols will go when she stated:

"You can't steal an election in a democracy."

In other words, anything is OK as long as you win.


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For a blow-by-blow on how James Green's votes helped Jim Green lose see the chronological 'Election Night' posts on the sidebar. For the record, we called it at 9:10pm when James had only 300 some odd votes but still more than 5% that of Jim. At the same time Michael Smythe declared that James was not going to be a factor (I was yelling at the radio as I typed - the 'Blognoramity' of it all, ha!).

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And By The Way.....

HeSaid
HeSaidVille

For the record (see previous two posts) Sam Sullivan, at least as of yesterday, maintains that he has never met James Green:

Vancouver Sun
Monday, November 21, 2005

by Miro Cernetig and Francis Bula

Sam Sullivan won the mayor's seat by a margin of 3,747 votes over his main rival, the veteran politician Green. But there was another Green on the ballot, James Green, who won a surprising 4,273 votes.

That is raising questions about whether Sullivan was beaten by the doppelganger effect: Did people confuse which Green they were voting for?

"It disappoints me that there would be any questions about it," Sullivan said in an interview. "I would much rather have had a clear outcome....

"I never met James Green. And in fact, I brought this up to friends and I said it bothers me a lot."

Looks like somebody's got some 'splainin' to do.

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The Plot Thickens

ShiftingSands
StoryVille


The Circle widens:

Vision Vancouver is calling for an independent inquiry into any links between the NPA and James Green, the candidate who placed third in the race to become mayor of Vancouver. NPA mayor-elect Sam Sullivan has repeatedly denied any connection to James Green's campaign.

But a news report yesterday quoted restaurant owner Julius Simon as saying Sullivan approached him about helping James Green with office space. Since that report Simon has told CBC Radio that Sullivan only made the inquiry after James Green was forced to move out of the space by the building's managers. He says Sullivan simply asked where Green had gone. Vision Vancouver campaign co-chair Mike Magee says Sullivan's shifting story raised new questions about an election result already clouded by confusion over which "Green" voters marked on their ballots.


But, of course, Smilin' Sammy is the real straight shooter here.

Right?

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Meet You At The Plaza

MyDigsAreYourDigs
EnemyofMyEnemyVille


Here's the whole bit from CKNW Radio re: James Green's statement that Sam Sullivan offered to help him get his office back in the Plaza of Nations early in the Vancouver Election Campaign.


Green's Office
Nov, 21 2005 - 9:40 PM
VANCOUVER(CKNW/AM980) - Was it a friendly gesture or a political game?

Independent candidate for the Vancouver mayor's chair James Green is shedding some light on accusations that Mayor-elect Sam Sullivan helped with his campaign.

James Green says he scouted out a campaign office at the Plaza of Nations himself. Sam Sullivan had nothing to do with it.

But in mid-September for no apparent reason, they were asked to move.

Green says two weeks later, he ran into Sullivan at a Mayor's debate in North Vancouver.

"He said so I heard you got kicked out of your office and said yeah and he said you want me to make a call and see if I can get it back for you."

So was that just a friendly gesture by Sullivan or a strategic political move?

"At the time I thought that it may be a political gesture.

But you know I don't think that it was just friendly."

In any event, James Green never heard from Sullivan again and never re-gained his office in downtown Vancouver.

Sounds to me like Mr. Green just might be angling for something here.

Could that be the good ship "S.S. ChequeBook Journalism" we see emerging from the endless fog that has enveloped our fair city since Saturday Night?

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Sam And James Sitting In A Tree...

LemmeHelpYouOutThereMyFriend
EnemyOfMyEnemyVille


CKNW (8:00pm Newscast) is reporting that mayoral spoiler James Green says that Sam Sullivan offered to help try get his campaign office back.

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